1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hand-held electrophoresis detection device and support thereof; in particular, to a hand-held electrophoresis detection device with a support that can properly hold a cartridge therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
The value of electrophoresis in biochemistry has been recognized for some time in the analysis, for example, of proteins in serum as well as other body fluids. FIG. 1 shows a conventional gel electrophoresis apparatus 10. The apparatus 10 comprises a separation tank 11, and a power supply 12 electrically coupled to the separation tank 11. During analysis, a sample is applied near one edge of a layer of gelatin carried on a flexible sheet, usually called a “gel” 13. The gel 13 is disposed in the separation tank 11, and is electrophoresis by the power supply 12, stained and the density of the resulting pattern is measured to reveal the proteins contained in the sample.
Although gel electrophoresis is relatively inexpensive in terms of the supplies and equipment required to perform sample analyses, the technique requires skilled technicians and is time consuming, effectively resulting in a high price per test and limiting the number of tests that can be performed using the technique.
Efforts have been made to automate electrophoresis in clinical laboratories. For example, capillary electrophoresis is a more recent development and can be used to perform the type of electrophoresis separations presently performed with gels.
Automated forms of capillary electrophoresis analyzers are known in the art. For example, FIG. 2 shows a conventional capillary electrophoresis analyzer 20 described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,811. An electrophoresis separation plate 21 has a plurality of sample wells 22 at one end and a common buffer reservoir 23 at the other end. A first master electrode 25 is electrically connected to a cell electrode 26 in the sample wells 22. A second master electrode 27 is in the common buffer reservoir 23. Capillary electrophoresis columns 28 are mounted in the plate 21 so that there is electrical communication between the first master electrode 25 by way of the capillary electrophoresis column 28 when the sample wells 22 and the reservoir 23 are filled with electrically conductive liquid. In operation, current between the master electrodes permits electrophoresis of the sample from the sample well 22 to the reservoir 23.
Other automated capillary electrophoresis apparatuses are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,582, U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,430, U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,127, U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,686.
None of the automated analyzers described, however, are suitable for routine clinical laboratory applications. Each requires considerable manual manipulation despite their automated nature, such as preparation and placement of individual sample and buffer vials onto the analyzer, programming for the various analytical routines, and the like. Because only one sample can undergo electrophoresis and detection during each analysis cycle of the analyzers, the number of samples per unit time, or throughput, is severely restricted compared to the needs of most routine clinical laboratory work.
In view of the disadvantages of the conventional analyzers, the inventor of this invention has provided a new electrophoresis separation apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 3. The apparatus 100 includes a main portion 110 and a hand-held electrophoresis detection device 120. Since the hand-held electrophoresis detection device 120 is connected to the main portion 110 in a separable manner, it can be operated conveniently without the limitation of the location of the main portion 110. Thus, the detection can be performed more quickly and conveniently.
The main portion 110 controls a detection of the sample. The hand-held electrophoresis detection device 120 includes a support 121, a cartridge 122, and a plurality of detection columns 123. The support 121 is used as a basic element of the device 120, and is electrically connected to the main portion 110. The cartridge 122 is disposed in the support 121 in a detachable manner, and is electrically connected to the support 122. After the detection is finished, the cartridge 122 can be replaced quickly so that the intermixing between the samples can be avoided. The detection columns 123 are disposed on the cartridge 122, and are used for the samples to be attached thereto. Thus, the samples can be moved in the detection columns 123 to perform the detection.
In the electrophoresis separation apparatus 100, only the basic structure of the apparatus is described. However, the detailed structure of each element is not described, such as the structure inside the support, and the assembly/disassembly manner between the cartridge and the support.